The Christian Church had immense power and influence over its followers and the beliefs of the Church and its clergy were projected onto its lay people. To use the words of Emilie Amt in her work, Women's Lives in Medieval Europe, "Christian beliefs, including ideas about women, marriage and family had already mingled with Roman traditions." Throughout the medieval period the voices of women were regulated or censored by those within the Church itself. This is evident when letters from women of the Church are examined. Documents such as the letters from women of the Church to their families or other members of the Church can tell the reader a great deal about the lifestyle that women of the Christian Church had and also the relationship that these women had with the Church. However, though there was great control exercised over medieval women, especially those within the Church, we can see from primary sources that some women tried to speak out about this and opposed this control. For example, Julian of Norwich, who is known to have said, "Because I am a woman, ought I therefore to believe that I should not tell you of the goodness of God." .
The first primary source that I have examined to explore the relationship between women and the Christian Church are the letters from Heloise, abbess of the Paraclete to Peter Abelard. Heloise was a well-educated young woman whom fell in love with a canon of the Church, Peter Abelard. This was strictly forbidden by the Church that two of its clergy should be in a relationship. After a series of events, including fearing for their lives and giving up their love-child, they both decided to take the sacrament of Holy Orders and become ordained as a monk and a nun. Their frequent correspondence over twenty years is the most important documentation as it tells us a lot about the relationship between women and the Church, in particular the relationship of the nuns and the male clergy or the nun's superiors.
